Sclerotherapy is a procedure used in the field of medicine to treat vascular or lymphatic malformations in a non-invasive manner. Sclerotherapy is generally used for the treatment of varicose veins and telangiectatic veins, commonly referred to as spider veins. In treating vascular malformations, sclerotherapy is performed by inserting a fine needle into the target vein and dispensing a medicine or sclerosing solution into the vein by means of a syringe. The injection of the medicine or sclerosing solution causes the target vein to immediately shrink and eventually turn into scar tissue and fade from view.
Compared to invasive surgery, sclerotherapy requires minimal downtime. Sclerotherapy is largely preferred by both patients and physicians over other methods of vascular malformation treatment, for reasons of non-invasiveness, minimal procedural duration, low cost, and reduced risk of recurrence. In particular, sclerotherapy is commonly referred to as the “gold standard” for treatment of spider veins.
There is a demand for nurses, physicians, dermatologists, surgeons, and the like, who are capable of performing sclerotherapy safely and effectively. In particular, there exists a relatively high level of difficulty involved in accurately inserting the fine tip of a syringe needle into a narrow target lumen, or blood vessel. Hands-on training is essential for medical personnel to become accustomed to inserting the fine tip of the syringe needle at the proper location and depth. Training courses for sclerotherapy frequently require trainees either to practice the procedure on living human patients, or to observe demonstrations of the procedure on living human patients. A need therefore exists for a sclerotherapy training aid.